Friday letters: Re-visiting Hiroshima

A mushroom cloud billows into the sky about one hour after an atomic bomb was detonated above Hiroshima, Japan on Aug. 6, 1945.

Photo: HO

Brutal lesson

Regarding "Kerry makes 'gut-wrenching" visit to Hiroshima memorial" (Page A1, Tuesday), there's no denying that lives were saved. Operation Downfall (codename for the Allied plan for the invasion of Japan) would have resulted in an estimated million Allied casualties in the largest amphibious operation the world had ever seen.

Still it's horrifying to see the power and destruction that snuffed out so many lives and could happen again. Hiroshima offers a brutal lesson in hubris and responsibility.

The speech by Secretary of State John Kerry almost sounded like an apology for the atomic bombing of Japan. An apology is certainly not needed.

At the time of the bombing Japan had rejected President Truman's demand for surrender despite the statement that there would be a "rain of ruin." Also, the Japanese had their own nuclear program, so they knew within a day that it was an atomic weapon and what it could do.

Less well known was the order to execute all Allied prisoners of war in the Japanese Islands if there was an invasion. The atomic bombs saved the lives of approximately a quarter-of-a-million men. An apology might be needed but not by the United States. Reading history is a useful hobby.